Tour de Lis raises awareness and money to fight cancer

The Tour de Lis is a remarkable success story. Now in its fifth year, it has already raised more than $800,000 to fight cancer. Since it began in the spring of 2007, it has evolved from four guys doing a 150-mile bike ride around Lake Pontchartrain to a bike ride and 5K walk/run in City Park for everyone.

Courtesy Josh LipschutzAbby and Josh Lipschutz at Tour de Lis

“We want people to know it’s an event they can participate in and raise money for,” Carol Asher says. “But it’s more than just an event. We want to raise awareness in this community. Cancer is the No. 1 killer in the world, but it’s also something people live with and families can endure.”

The Tour de Lis was begun by Asher and her husband, Harold, as a way to honor Asher’s cousin, Josh Lipschutz, who was diagnosed with brain cancer at 36, shortly after he and his wife, Abby, were married.

“It was literally the week they got home from their honeymoon,” Asher says. “We were angry that something like this could happen to this wonderful young couple who were just starting their lives together.”

Lipschutz, a 1992 Tulane graduate who lives in Massachusetts, has been on chemotherapy since he was diagnosed.

“It’s not easy. He gets sick from it every month, but you never hear him complain,” Asher says. “The only time the c-word comes up, it’s usually some joke about it.”

Lipschutz and Abby come for the Tour de Lis every year, and this year will be special. They are expecting a baby at the end of June.

“It’s kind of a miracle,” Asher says. “They froze Josh’s sperm before he had radiation, and then they went through a year of in-vitro.”

The young couple’s experience pinpoints something organizers of the Tour de Lis discovered as they were figuring out what to do with the money they raise: Young adults battling cancer have unique concerns. They may be just starting careers. They may be in graduate school. They may have young children to take care of while they struggle with the disease.

“It’s everything from ‘How do I tell my boss?’ to ‘How do I date?’ to ‘What if we want to have a baby?’” Asher says. “There isn’t a lot of attention paid to people in their 20s and 30s.”

Since the beginning, money raised by the Tour has gone to the Lance Armstrong Foundation, a national organization that offers a wide array of free services to cancer patients, survivors and families; Planet Cancer, which supports young adults with cancer; and the Cancer Association of Greater New Orleans (CAGNO), a grassroots group that helps local people fighting cancer.

“We give away all the money,” Asher says.

Recently, Planet Cancer became part of the Lance Armstrong Foundation, the Young Alliance division.

“If you go to the Lance Armstrong website, you’ll see it’s a pretty incredible place,” Asher said. “We give them money, but they put it back in the New Orleans area.”

Last year, the group put on a Live Strong Planet Cancer retreat for young couples coping with cancer.

“It’s a weekend retreat for couples with all their expenses paid,” Asher says. “They work with counselors, and they become this incredible support team for each other. They help each other through it.”

With some of the money raised at this year’s event, Tour de Lis will offer grants to local nonprofit groups providing innovative services for cancer patients and survivors.

“It really is about surviving with this disease,” Asher says. “We’ll have applications on the website.”

Tour de Lis is also working with the Lance Armstrong Foundation to put on a symposium in New Orleans this summer that will bring together all the stakeholders in the cancer community: hospital cancer centers, support groups, vendors, fundraising organizations, groups that provide services, patients and families.

“We want to find out what kind of help is missing in the New Orleans area and what we’re doing right,” Asher says.

She also hopes to develop a resource guide on the website.

“There’s no one place for people to go to find hospitals, clinics, support groups, wig stores, whatever it is they need,” she says.

This year, Sean Payton’s Play It Forward Foundation has become a presenting sponsor for the Tour de Lis.

“That’s a really big deal for us,” Asher says. “They’re giving us a lot of support.”

The upcoming Tour de Lis is on April 9, and it has already raised more than $200,000.

“That’s more than we’ve raised every other year,” Asher says.

But she's hoping many more people will sign up for the bike ride and run/walk.

“Our goal is 1,000 participants, and so far we have less than 200,” she says.

The first 1,000 to sign up will get a free Rumba Time waterproof watch, and everyone who signs up will get a chance to win a $3,000 Madone 5.1 bike, donated by GNO Cyclery. You can also buy extra raffle tickets the day of the Tour.

The top fund-raiser will get an official NFL football signed by Drew Brees and Sean Payton.

“We hope people will come out and see what we’re about,” Asher says.

The event offers a morning of fun and a message of hope.

“What Tour de Lis really stands for is living a full, rich life by helping yourself and finding the resources you need,” Asher says.

And one more thing: Finding a cure for cancer.

“We hope in our lifetime we can go away,” she says. “Now, that would be amazing.”

The Tour de Lis to raise awareness and money to fight cancer is a 3-mile-loop bike ride that can be repeated as many times as you want and a 5K walk/run. It is Saturday, April 9, beginning at 8 a.m. at City Park behind Tad Gormley Stadium.

Cost: Bike registration, $35. 5K Run/Walk Registration, $30. Combo bike and run/walk registration, $40. Online registration ends April 8 at 10 a.m. Same day registration at City Park is $50. Organizers hope you will raise at least $100 in pledges, but there is no minimum amount you have to raise.

All cyclists must be at least 12 and must wear a helmet. All ages welcome at the walk/run, including babies and toddlers in strollers. To learn more and sign up, visit Tour de Lis. Donations can be made at the website or by sending a check to: Tour de Lis, 501 Basin Street, Suite A, New Orleans LA 70112. To learn about help available through the Lance Armstrong Foundation, visit Live Strong.

Sheila Stroup's column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday in Living. Contact her at sstroup@timespicayune.com or 985.898.4831.